Many wet floor cleaning apparatuses or devices comprise a rotatable brush which is continually wetted as it scrubs the surface of a floor to be cleaned. The brush is typically wetted with a cleaning solution that enhances the cleaning process. Unfortunately, the use of a wetted brush may leave behind cleaning solution residue in the form of a trail or a series of small puddles of cleaning solution. This even applies to cleaning devices that are capable of evenly and sparingly wetting the brush. A floor cleaning device comprising a brush that is rotatable around an axis of rotation, and a cover having a cover surface that faces the axis of rotation is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,539. U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,539 discloses a carpet cleaning machine including a pair of spaced, long-bristles, counter-revolving brushes for stroking solvent-moistened cleaning granules into and across carpet fibers. A shroud is disposed above the brushes and has a bottom surface spaced from the brushes.
The trail and the small puddles have their origin in the rotational motion of the brush, which may cause the liquid in and on the brush to be swung outward, off its surface. To prevent droplets shaken out of the brush from being scattered all over the floor, the rotating brush is typically shielded from its surroundings by a cover or splashguard which partly surrounds it. Droplets of cleaning solution caught by the cover will adhere to its surface and aggregate into somewhat larger drops. Once the drops have reached a sufficient weight, they may run downward along the surface of the cover under the influence of gravity, and drip down onto the floor from a lower edge thereof. These relatively small drops in themselves are not a major issue, as they are typically distributed across a larger surface (the floor cleaning devices moves during use), and are small enough to dry up quickly. The actual problem is caused by the fact that non-level operation of the cleaning device, which may result directly from use on non-level floors, creates a lowest point on the cover. Liquid drops from all over the cover will collectively flow to this lowest point. From there they will subsequently break loose from the cover surface in a seeping fashion, or possibly as a genuine torrent when the cleaning device is suddenly inclined. This may leave behind a concentrated trail or puddle of cleaning solution on the floor being cleaned. Such liquid trails/puddles may locally make a floor unexpectedly slippery, posing a hazard to people, and may eventually dry up while leaving spots on the floor.